I am curious if any non-binary people here have dealt with doctors giving you problems regarding your transition?

No dear, mine were supportive, the endo sent me to a shrink, and life began in a very new way, but not without difficulty.

I had done the research first to find out who was trans friendly, and went with it.

But I also played entirely by the rules, and waited for the shrink letter for hormones.

So far, I have not had to out myself with anyone I don't know, and that may change at the next apt for a bottom scope.  They will be most certainly surprised by that, I am dreading it.  14 months of hormones make some rather nice changes to the body...

There is a lot of info on the net about the docs, questions to ask up front, and as long as you stick with the SOC rules and pick a trans friendly doc, I would think you'd be ok.

The look on the nurses face doing the sonogram at my last prostate exam was rather amuzing....

Not sure what you ran into.  You should tell us more, one of us will have comments, I am off for the weekend.

Nails out and hair waiting....

SatinJoy.

Quote from: makipu on August 22, 2014, 01:36:03 PM
I am curious if any non-binary people here have dealt with doctors giving you problems regarding your transition?

Yes, I ran into a gatekeeper who had a preconceived notion of what a trans person should be like. (You can look here if you're dying to hear the details). But this is America and I live near a major city. I just went to different doctor. In the end, I was able to get HRT when I wanted it and SRS pretty much a year to the day of going full-time, so I wasn't slowed down at all.

One GP who had many transgender patients (like a significant percentage of his patients) used the patriarchy card on me to counter a request of mine. He gave me flimsy reasons then admitted that he's being patriarchal in making the decision. He refused to elaborate how he came to the decision any further. He refused to revisit the subject and remained silent or avoided the subject when I used "I felt ____ when you ____." sentences to express my disapproval in subsequent conversations. He essentially shut down and went into avoidance mode. He essentially told me through his actions that he didn't want to be my doctor anymore.

Doctors are human too. They're smart students who got into medical school. They likely haven't experienced the many experiences the broader population has because of their privileged status in society. I have a friend that is a doctor who likes to stay within his emotional "bubble" and is incapable of discussing difficult issues. Then again, I have met med students who are outgoing, who have bright personalities, and who have no difficulty discussing difficult issues. I believe many medical schools are working hard to interview the applicants properly and to teach medical students clinical skills they need to properly provide patient care, but it still requires effort on the part of the doctor (after graduating) to use those skills.

Doctors need to master active listening skills, need to be able to communicate effectively when difficult situations arise, and need to empathize with patients to a certain degree to try to understand things from their perspective. With these skills doctors should be able to tackle any issue they encounter even if the situation involves an issue out of their comfort zone. If you do encounter a doctor who gives you problems without listening like I did, find one who has these skills listed. Not all doctors have the same skill sets and no doctor is the same.

Back to the doctor, even though I knew it wasn't working out between me and this new doctor I was seeing, I wanted to give him a chance. People learn by encountering new experiences and sometimes you have to force them into a situation where they have to think about things they haven't thought about. They need to process the new information and new situation they encountered to potentially reassess their previously held beliefs. It creates an experience so that it possibly makes it easier for them to deal with a similar situation in the future. Allow them to make a mistake and let them learn from it but the doctors can only learn if they choose to learn from it. I don't know if what I did was effective, but I'm trying to see how I can affect human behaviour these days to push people to improve.

No problems with Doctors, Therapists, Psychiatrist or Endocrinologist.  Perhaps I was lucky but low dose HRT is now a standard therapy for dysphoria and most will work with you to find the right dosage to achieve your objectives.

Safe travels

Aisla

No issues at all.. In fact, it was my therapist who first suggested I might not quite fit the binary.

i know of two doctors in this entire country, or possibly three, but the third one's from denmark or something, who wouldn't give me too much trouble. one doesn't have time for me. do i try to contact the others? only when i feel like i have enough time and money to travel those ridiculous distances. it would probably be cheaper to go outside the country.

unless i find one of those doctors who aren't well known because they're hiding away pretending not to go against the system while helping patients. i can't be sure they exist though.

I was sent to the psychiatric department of my local hospital first and the psychiatrist threatened to have me sectioned if he ever saw me again.This was 1989 not 1949!

Quote from: big kim on August 25, 2014, 06:40:31 AM
I was sent to the psychiatric department of my local hospital first and the psychiatrist threatened to have me sectioned if he ever saw me again.This was 1989 not 1949!

Kim

My first meeting with a Doctor wasn't quite as bad as yours.  She had me disrobe.  Saw that I was tall, large framed and athletic and said "no, it would never work.  You would never pass so transitioning is out of the question.   Just cross dress!"  This was 1991.  By 2010 everything had changed and low dose therapy for non binaries was accepted practice.   At this rate of progress by 2020 anything should be possible!

Aisla

i'm really just waiting for the day when a full set of functional genitals is possible.
2020 seems a little soon for that yet, but hopefully they'll manage to make functional penes of a more average size by then.